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Login to post Forums » Off-topic discussion » $800 - They could have just called us

Nov. 14, 2008 3:27 p.m. Salanis SuperDork

Some friends of mine and my girlfriend had a pretty nice '95 Miata. A few months back, it blew the head gasket and was out of commission. They didn't want to spend the money to take it to a shop, and didn't want to take the time/effort to fix it themselves (which my girlfriend and I offered to help with).

They just bought a new Honda Fit. They traded in the Miata on it.

They got $800 for the Miata.

When my girlfriend told me about this, I got ticked off. Aside from the head gasket, it was a nice car in good condition. It had a Torsen. I would have bought it for $800 and done the head gasket. It would have made a great Miata for my girlfriend. When I said that, she got irritated too. She would have bought it for $800 if they'd given us the opportunity.

Darn them!
Nov. 14, 2008 3:34 p.m. rob_lewis Dork

Ready to be really unhappy?

I bet, in reality, the dealership gave them $0 and the $800 was hid in dealer holdbacks or interest rates......

-Rob
Nov. 14, 2008 3:38 p.m. Salanis SuperDork

I told my girlfriend she should find out what dealer it got sold to, hunt it down, and offer $900 for it, as is.
Nov. 14, 2008 3:38 p.m. 93celicaGT2 Reader

Call the dealership, offer them the $800 for the Miata.

Done that a few times when i didn't like my buddy's asking prices on their cars and they traded it in, then made the mistake of telling me how much they got for it.
Nov. 14, 2008 3:42 p.m. pete240z HalfDork

I have people do this and tell me that they don't like selling cars to people they know. They feel "funny" should there be any further problems.

Once I GAVE a Lincoln Town Car to my brother-in-law for a promise of a pizza and he did let me know when the Lincoln had problems. Then he sold it years later and got $500 for it.
Nov. 14, 2008 3:46 p.m. ClemSparks SuperDork

93celicaGT2 wrote:

Call the dealership, offer them the $800 for the Miata.

Done that a few times when i didn't like my buddy's asking prices on their cars and they traded it in, then made the mistake of telling me how much they got for it.

This is probably a VERY good line to take. That car is likely just going to get run through a dealer-only auction anyway. You can save them the commission and fees.

Find out who handles selling trade-ins at auction and give it a shot!

Clem
Nov. 14, 2008 3:53 p.m. Salanis SuperDork

I think I'll try to talk my girlfriend into doing this.

I have never replaced a head gasket before, but I understand it's fairly strait forward, and additional damage to the head is unlikely. Is that correct?

If they sold it to the Honda dealer they probably did, it's only about 2-3 miles away from our apartment. Would that be too risky to drive it that distance under its own power? Or would it be best to just rent a truck/trailer and tow the car home?
Nov. 14, 2008 4:05 p.m. ClemSparks SuperDork

Buy a Tow Strap at your favorite retailer and consider it an adveturous learning experience ;)

Seriously...it depends on how bad the head gasket was shot. Top it off with water and drive it until it starts getting hot. Repeat as necessary (but don't, of course, open the cooling system while it's hot).

I've had cars with cracked heads that would drive fine until you got up to highway speed. On the other hand, if it's overheating quickly...you're not doing the engine any favors.

Clem
Nov. 14, 2008 4:10 p.m. Salanis SuperDork

ClemSparks wrote:

Seriously...it depends on how bad the head gasket was shot. Top it off with water and drive it until it starts getting hot. Repeat as necessary (but don't, of course, open the cooling system while it's hot).

I've had cars with cracked heads that would drive fine until you got up to highway speed. On the other hand, if it's overheating quickly...you're not doing the engine any favors.

Reportedly, the car made it a short distance back to their house after they discovered the cracked head. I think they said they stopped once to let it cool down. Didn't sound like it was heating up that quickly.

We'd just be taking this a couple of miles on surface streets. Should make it fine.

Hmm... challenge worthy Miata.
Nov. 14, 2008 4:24 p.m. ClemSparks SuperDork

Game On!
Nov. 14, 2008 10:57 p.m. neon4891 Dork

doo-eet, like you didn't know what we would say
Nov. 15, 2008 8:42 a.m. ignorant SuperDork

just do it mang.. you'd be surprised what dealerships will do if you start waving cash in their face.
Nov. 15, 2008 11:38 a.m. EastCoastMojo HalfDork

Go get it! LOL Won't your friends be suprised when they see it at your house.
Nov. 15, 2008 2:11 p.m. AngryCorvair Dork

i'm still pissed off at my buddy for trading his '00 Contour SVT on some generic family truckster at CarMax last year. they gave him $1400. this happened on a friday, i found out about it the following tuesday, and by that time the car had already gone to their auction site and was gone. to make sure, i offered the guy on the phone $500 cash if he could make the car stick around for another day. he said that while he really would like to have that $500, the car was indeed already gone. :-(

call the dealer now! miata heads are dime-a-dozen if it needs one, and it's a really easy job.
Nov. 16, 2008 9:33 p.m. noisycricket Reader

The dealership where I worked had a first-dibs policy for employees. One of the service managers had a very sweet series 5 RX-7 Turbo that he picked up for, well, what you'd expect a dealership to give on a trade-in.

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